Here is a hard truth: Nursing Homes in Florida are businesses that are designed to make profits. Therefore, these companies frequently cut corners in certain ways to make it more profitable. One way they do this is to reduce expenses related to patient care, including reducing the number of nurses being paid to treat patients in the facility.
WHY DOES NEGLECT HAPPEN?
But why would a nursing home reduce the number of staff members to care for patients? The answer: because high labor costs will cut into their net profits.
Unfortunately, a significant consequence of reducing staff is that the patients at the facility may not get the level of care they need and injuries can occur in various form such as pressure ulcers, infections, frequent falls, aspiration pneumonia, dehydration, and malnourishment. Peer-reviewed literature supports this conclusion.
Additionally, our Nursing Home Safety Score analysis confirms that neglect is happening right now in nursing homes in Florida throughout Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County.
NURSING HOME NEGLECT: A REAL WORLD EXAMPLE
Below is the story of our client, Yvonne Dutcher, who was the unfortunate victim of nursing home neglect in Florida in 2014 and 2015. We share her story with you so that you can understand how neglect occurs in the real world and to help educate others on what to look out for when at a nursing home:
THE ESTATE OF YVONNE DUTCHER v. FI-THE OAKS LLC
At the end of 2014, Yvonne Dutcher became a resident at Oaks at Avon nursing home in Avon Park, Florida. Upon admission, the nursing home was required to assess Yvonne and develop a care plan for her so that she did not have any injuries or worsening of her existing conditions.
However, while as a resident at the nursing home, Yvonne was neglected as she did not receive appropriate nursing care services which were due to understaffing by the nursing home. As a result, her skin continued to breakdown to where her pressure ulcer on her backside (coccyx) was noted to be a Stage 4.
There was even documentation that her wound was filled with stool and urine due to her not being changed when she was unable to control her bowel and bladder movements. Not surprisingly, this wound progressed and she developed infections from the open wound on her body.
Yvonne suffered dearly due to this wound throughout her final days which should have been her most enjoyable. NextGen Injury Law has filed a lawsuit in Highlands County, Florida for the nursing home neglect that Yvonne experienced. If you would like more information about Yvonne’s case, please contact us and please share this story to others to prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again in our communities.